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| Chōjirō | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chōjirō |
| Birth date | fl. mid-16th century |
| Death date | late 16th century |
| Occupation | Potter, Craftsman, Ceramist |
| Notable works | First Raku ware tea bowls |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Chōjirō Chōjirō was a Japanese potter active in the mid-16th century associated with the origins of Raku ware and the development of tea ceremony aesthetics in Azuchi–Momoyama Japan. He is traditionally identified as the founder of a lineage of Raku potters and a close collaborator with influential tea masters and military patrons of the period. Accounts link him to artistic networks that included figures from Kyoto, several daimyo households, and the cultural circles surrounding prominent tea practitioners.
Contemporary and later sources situate Chōjirō within the cultural milieu of 16th‑century Kyoto and its surrounding provinces, placing him amid interactions with patrons such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and tea masters like Sen no Rikyū and Takeno Jōō. Records and oral traditions associate his origins with immigrant communities connected to Korea and pottery traditions that reached Satsuma Province and Bizen Province. His workshop reportedly served clients from aristocratic households tied to the Ashikaga shogunate remnants and rising warlords during the Sengoku period. Genealogical accounts link him to later Raku families, whose names and registers were noted in inventories kept by temples such as Daitoku-ji and by retinues attached to castles like Azuchi Castle and residences in Kyoto Imperial Palace precincts.
Chōjirō’s career is chiefly remembered through associations with the evolving practice of the tea ceremony (chanoyu) as cultivated by masters such as Sen no Rikyū, Takeno Jōō, and patrons including Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His bowls and wares were used in tea gatherings at venues like Daitoku-ji subtemples, private tea houses near Kyoto, and in ceremonies staged at castles and aristocratic mansions. The emergence of Raku ware under his hand corresponded with aesthetic shifts promoted by these tea figures toward simplicity and rusticity, resonating with tastes found among collectors such as Asai Nagamasa and diplomatic envoys from Ming dynasty China. Chōjirō’s products became emblematic objects in tea-room displays alongside prized items like Kōdaiji-sets, tea caddies, and imported Chinese celadons.
The ware attributed to Chōjirō exhibits an emphasis on hand-formed, low-fired earthenware finished with lead or feldspathic glazes, aligning with techniques also practiced in Bizen Province and influenced by Korean craftsmanship brought by potters associated with Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Korean campaigns. His bowls are characterized by asymmetry, subdued glazing, and tactile surfaces intended for close handling during gatherings favored by Sen no Rikyū and other aesthetes. Surface treatments recall contemporary tastes for wabi-sabi aesthetics promoted in circles that included Dōan Shōkoku, Miyako no Omi, and collectors such as Tsuda Sōgyū. Materials and firing methods show affinities to traditions emanating from Kyushu and techniques documented in kilns like those in Hizen and Seto, while his workshop practices informed later procedural manuals preserved in family archives of Raku households.
Chōjirō’s name became institutionalized through a hereditary line of potters whose work continued under the Raku family name in subsequent centuries and who maintained close ties with Kyoto tea establishments such as Daitoku-ji, and patrons from Tokugawa shogunate circles. His aesthetic principles influenced not only successors within Raku lineages but also ceramists at Kishiwara and Shigaraki, and connoisseurs including Iemoto-style tea schools that formalized chanoyu protocols. Collectors and scholars from the Edo period to the modern era—ranging from Matsudaira Sadanobu to Okakura Kakuzō and modern curators at institutions like Tokyo National Museum and British Museum—have cited Chōjirō-linked pieces when tracing the genealogy of Japanese ceramics. His approach contributed to cross-cultural dialogues involving Ming dynasty imports, Korean Joseon influences, and later Western collectors during the Meiji period and Taishō period.
Attributions to Chōjirō are based on family tradition, stylistic analysis, and documented inventories; surviving pieces ascribed to him or his immediate circle include simple tea bowls and ochoko forms retained in temple treasuries and private collections connected to Daitoku-ji and aristocratic lineages. Notable holdings potentially containing earliest Raku examples are preserved in repositories such as Kansai University collections, museum holdings at Tokyo National Museum, and Western collections catalogued by institutions like Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum. Specific named pieces—ceramic chawan used in seminal tea sessions and designated by collectors—appear in catalogues associated with collectors like Sengoku Takamori and scholarly works by historians such as Fujita Toyohachi and Mikami Yoshio. The chain of custody for such bowls often traces through tea families, daimyo treasuries, and temple inventories at Daitoku-ji, Kennin-ji, and private estates in Kyoto.
Category:Raku ware Category:Japanese potters Category:16th-century Japanese people